The Skunk Incident
by TimeGuardian
Summary: QUICK ONE-SHOT: Scott has a skunk of a tale for Alan.


_I wanted to do a quick change of pace from the adventure that I am doing in another story. I like to call this quickie one-shot:_

**A Matter of Perspective **

**or AKA**

**'The Skunk Incident'**

"It's not funny Scott," Alan Tracy grumbled as he stalked out of dad's study. After the day he had, all he wanted was a nice warm shower and bed. They decided to venture on ahead into the house after Virgil and Gordon volunteered to secure the Thunderbird craft that they used for their latest rescue operation.

Despite his protest, he could still hear Scott chuckling slightly behind him. "Oh come on, Alan, it's not any day that we rescue two pretty female ambassadors from a hotel fire over in London."

Alan wheeled on him and nearly grimaced as his head protested the move. "Sure, but then their drunk escorts misunderstood our intentions and gave us both black eyes. How can you be so- so-"

"Cheerful?"

His brother did even sound bothered in the slightest, with fueled Alan's grumpiness even more as he muttered. "To a ridiculous level."

Smirking, Scott replied. "Alan - for one thing, this isn't the first black eye I have ever received, and probably won't be the last either. For another, it's a matter of perspective – you haven't truly experienced embarrassment until you learn of the 'skunk incident'."

Curiosity getting the better of him, Alan stopped and turned around in interest. "Skunk incident?"

Scott nodded slowly, maneuvering beside Alan and draping an arm over his younger brother's shoulder. "Follow me into the kitchen. We need to ice our eyes anyway, and it'll pass the time."

He soon led Alan into the kitchen where they both stopped in front of the freezer.

He then opened up the freezer and took out two bags of frozen peas, keeping one and handing the other one to Alan. "Put this over your eye."

With his back against the counter, Alan leaned his head back and gratefully closed his right eye, draping the bag gratefully on it. "Ah, that does feel better. So what's this about this 'skunk incident,' Scott?"

Scott leaned back against the counter beside him and applied the bag he had to his own eye. "Remember when you were up in Five about a month ago and we got a call about a wildfire at a animal preserve over in California?"

When Alan nodded, he continued the story. "You didn't hear us talk about it much, but the handlers refused to evacuate the preserve until we evacuated their animals, the sum of that being twenty skunks."

"Skunks, though? Out in the middle of nowhere?"

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "There wasn't much time to question it – the three handlers that were left were determined not to leave without them. We argued about it for a few minutes before Virgil finally snapped and said that he would take them. He managed to find a spot to land and we soon had all twenty skunks on board Thunderbird Two along with the three handlers."

"The handlers were mad as anything, but it couldn't be helped – the amount of updrafts generated by the fire made flying pretty treacherous. It took all I had to keep Thunderbird One up in the air, so I could imagine the trouble Virgil was having. Once we landed at an animal rescue preserve in a neighboring city, it took both Virgil and I along with the handlers in order to round up all twenty skunks. They were everywhere on Thunderbird Two, and almost all of them took offense the hard way when we nabbed them."

Alan snorted in laughter as he made the conclusion. "So how long did it take for you guys to get the smell out of Thunderbird Two?"

Scott grinned as he lifted off his bag of frozen peas and grabbed for Alan's bag. "Two weeks, and I will say that those were the hardest two weeks on record – especially since father wouldn't allow us to not use Thunderbird Two for a reason like that."

Alan winced appreciably. "Ouch, poor Virgil. Thanks for the peas and the story, Scott. I think I am finally ready to hit the sack now."

He watched as Scott opened the freezer and deposit both bags into it before turning back to face him, "Oh, and Alan – tell anyone you got that story from me, and I'll make sure that Tin-Tin gets the true story of our rescue today."

Alan paled at the threat. On their way from the hangars earlier they ran into her Tin-Tin, who expressed dismay at their condition. Alan concocted a wild tale about a dastardly firebug that had caused the hotel fire that they tousled with – never mind that the actual problem was determined to be faulty wiring. Thankfully Scott had not said a word while they were around her but by the time they reached the lift that would return them to the study, Scott was chuckling.

He glared at Scott for a long moment, suspicion growing in his mind. "Wait a second – are you telling me a true story?"

This time Scott laughed out loud as he moved to leave the kitchen. "As I said before, it's a matter of perspective. Good night, Alan."

* * *

_This was a quick strange diversion that the muse wanted to follow, and voila! I hope you liked it._

_Till Next Time,_

_TimeGuardian _


End file.
